Field check

There were a couple of sunny days above freezing this week and there was the slightest hint of growth in the plantings.

The Spring Street field

The Raymond field

Raymond Field up!

There are signs of life at the new field in Raymond. Germination looks good despite fairly cold conditions and not much rain.

Meanwhile the Spring St field is coming along great!

First planting up!

It's been two weeks since the field in Mount Pleasant was planted, and the crop is germinating very well.

Just an emerald green hue at a distance, but it's there!

Raymond Field

A second field became available in the town of Raymond and I was able to obtain enough seed to plant it.  This 6 acre field is in a beautiful setting, but it was covered in annual weeds, some grasses, and dozens of small trees.  This field has not been farmed in 3 years, and has not had any fertilizers or chemicals on it for 10 years.  Here is how it looked before we began.

This is the view from the seat of the tractor during the first pass of discing.  We began using a 15' disc pulled by a John Deere 3010, which was just barely enough power.  I did most of the field work while Brian was busy harvesting soybeans in nearby fields.

After 3-4 passes of the disc, the field still had a lot of trash but looked a lot better. This is the appearance of the field on October 12, after 2 days of work.  By then we had switched to a 130 hp International 1086 to pull the disc.  We did not get it planted in time before a rain event of around 2" came.

We resumed work on October 22, by which time the field was still wet, but workable.  We brought the John Deere 4020 with loader bucket into the field to remove a large rock.  Many, many smaller rocks and trees were removed by hand.  The field was worked with one pass of the disc...

...followed by one pass of the digger/drag.  The trash was just barely cut up enough to be dragged.  There were a few places where the trash was still clogging the digger, but Brian could see it happen and take steps to clear the implement.  After digging the field looked very good.

We began the next day with drilling!  The seeder was a no-till type and Brian drilled the field in about an hour.  The target drilling rate was 100 lbs/acre, which on this machine turned out to be notch 23 on the right on notch 24 on the left.   Depth was around 1".  The no-till machine packs the soil tightly and the surface of the field is completely different than the field in Mount Pleasant.

Here is how the field looks up close after the no-till planter has sliced and closed the seed furrows. 

The Raymond field after planting on October 23.  It rained about .1" that evening.

Preparation and planting

Things move very fast after the beans come out. Plowing takes a full day then more discing followed by the cultipacker. I was not around to get pictures of everything. Here is how the field looked after plowing.

Discing after the second or third pass

Ancient John Deere planter. I did not get a photo of it in action. Mary rides on the back to engage/disengage the control levers and to ensure each furrow has a supply of seeds feeding it properly.

Field after drilling on October 11.  The seeder was set at notch 20, which drills 108 lbs per acre as per the chart on the back of the seeder.

A final pass over the drilled seeds with the flex harrow and John Deere Model B tractor.  Ron also used the B to pull the drill, since the B is lighter and compacts the soil less.

Ron and Mary worked tirelessly to make this planting as good as it could be. The last day ended well after dark. 

The rain came as scheduled about a day after this planting was finished.  At least 1.5" fell and it remained fairly cold for the next 10 days, including several mornings of frost.

Getting the beans out

Ron harvested his beans yesterday, making way for seed bed preparation.

The John Deere model 30 combine threw the bean trash out in clumps. Even though we broke them up by hand, the plow still clogged up when Ron tried to plow this morning. So he had to pass the disc over several times. 

Following several hours of discing Ron began plowing by 3pm today. I measured the depth at 6-7". 

Waiting

Still waiting for the beans to be harvested. Cross fingers they will be gone soon. Target date for planting was two weeks ago. 

The Turkey Field

Here is how the field looks a couple days after signing a lease agreement with Ron and Mary.  I am waiting for the beans to be harvested before the field is worked and the wheat planted.  We are going to plant into the beans and the oats (green strip at right) as well.  The oats were harvested in the summer but the plants continued to grow to over a foot in height.  Target planting date for wheat in this area is September 21, which I think we will miss.